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Book 2 Chapter 4
A Journey in the Dark *Once they get down the mountain, the Company holds a council: either they have to go on or go back to Rivendell. *Frodo decides that they can't go back to Rivendell; that would be shameful. *Gandalf suggests one way forward – they could go through the Mines of Moria – but it's not a good way, and Aragorn is against it. *Boromir offers an alternative: they could go far to the south, through the Gap of Rohan and into Gondor. *Gandalf objects that this would bring them too close to Isengard and Saruman. Also, they can't afford to lose too much time. *Now that they have failed on Caradhras, they need to get out of sight for a while. *Moria is not Orc-heavy right now: most of the Orcs of the Misty Mountains were destroyed in the Battle of the Five Armies. *Gimli agrees to go through Moria. He wants to see the halls of Durin. *Aragorn has been through Moria once, but he doesn't want to repeat the experience. Still, he will follow Gandalf's lead. *Boromir says that he won't go through Moria unless the entire Company votes against him. *Legolas does not want to go either. *Frodo decides, "I do not wish to go ... but neither do I wish to refuse the advice of Gandalf" (2.4.30). *He votes to wait until morning to decide. *Aragorn suddenly realizes that the howl of the wind is actually the howl of wolves. They have no choice now: they have to go to Moria. *They agree to set out for the door on Caradhras' south-west face the next morning. *They climb to the top of a hill as a defense for the night; there, they find a ring of stones. *Bill the pony trembles and sweats as he listens to the wolves growing closer. *There is a "great dark wolf-shape" that appears at a gap in the ring of stones. *Gandalf shouts, "Listen, Hound of Sauron! ... Gandalf is here. Fly, if you value your foul skin! I will shrivel you from tail to snout, if you come within this ring" (2.4.42). *The wolf leaps forward, but Legolas shoots it with his arrow. *The wolves pull back and the darkness grows silent. *Suddenly, a huge pack of Wargs – evil wolves – attacks them from all sides. *Gandalf fights the Wargs back with fire, and by dawn, they have all been beaten back. *But in the morning, the Company discovers that there are no wolf bodies left; Gandalf is sure that these are no ordinary wolves. *They must race to the doors of Moria before sunset. *At last, they reach Sirannon, the Gate-stream, and the dry remains of the Stair Falls. *Gandalf mutters to Frodo that they cannot take Bill the pony into the mines; even though it will sadden Sam, they will have to set Bill free. *The sun is setting as they reach the end of the Elvish road from Hollin to Moria. *Near the doors, there is a green and stagnant lake. *Gandalf breaks the news to Sam that they cannot take Bill with them; Sam bursts into tears and unloads the pony. *Gandalf goes to the rock face and mutters a few words. *In the light of the moon, a door shines out from the wall. *The door says: "The Doors of Durin, Lord of Moria ... Speak, friend, and enter" (2.4.98). *Gandalf decides that there must be a password, so he tries many words and incantations to try to get inside. *The doors remain stubbornly shut. *Boromir picks up a stone and throws it into the scummy pool near the doors. *Frodo scolds Boromir for disturbing the water. *Finally, Gandalf gets it: say "friend" and enter. He says the Elvish word for friend, mellon, and the doors crack open. *As the door opens, Frodo feels something wind around his ankle and pull him down. *Bill the pony bolts. *Huge tentacles are whipping out of the water, and one of them is dragging Frodo down into the pond. *Sam slashes at the tentacle holding Frodo and pulls him to safety. *Gandalf shouts at them to get inside. *The Company makes it through the doors just in time to see "many coiling arms seizing the doors on either side, and with horrible strength, swinging them round" (2.4.130). *The door is shut and blocked behind them. *Gandalf leads them down into Moria; it will be at least forty miles to the eastern gate and Dimrill Dale. *The Company does not dare use their torches, so they have to trust to Gandalf's memory to avoid deep crevasses and rock falls. *The journey is quite miserable. *Frodo in particular feels on red alert: ever since his injury with the Morgul-blade, his senses have been unusually acute, and he feels hyper-aware of danger ahead. *Frodo hears something padding behind them, something on soft feet. *Finally, they reach a crossroads that Gandalf does not remember. *They settle down to wait for a bit in a nearby guardroom; there is a deep well that seems to fascinate Pippin particularly. *Pippin throws a stone in the well and listens for it to land with an echoing plunk (2.4.160). Gandalf once again scolds him for making a nuisance of himself. *But then, deep in the mines, there comes a tapping sound, like some sort of signal; Gimli identifies it as the sound of a hammer. *The Company sets watch and goes to sleep. *Gandalf sits smoking for six hours until he decides what to do. In the end, he decides to take the right-hand passage, and the Company climbs up and up for eight hours. *Finally, the Hobbits are too tired to go on, and they decide to rest for the night. *Gandalf guesses that they are now actually a ways above the Dimrill Gate. *He risks enough light to see where they are. *They find themselves in a huge empty hall: "its black walls, polished and smooth as glass, flash and glitter. Three other entrances they see, dark black arches, one straight before them eastwards, and one on either side" (2.4.176). *Gandalf puts out the light, but Gimli is moved to sing a song of Moria in Durin's day. Naturally. *Sam asks why the Dwarves came back to Moria. *Gandalf answers: mithril. Mithril is a spectacular metal that is light and yet harder than steel. *He mentions that Bilbo had a coat of mithril mail, which would have been worth more than the Shire. *Frodo feels a bit alarmed that he is currently wearing the worth of the Shire hidden under his clothes. *The Company goes to sleep, and when they wake, it is morning – really morning, because there is light coming in from somewhere. *Gandalf predicts that they will come to the Great Gates and the lake of Mirrowmere by the end of that day. *Gimli is glad: he is happy to have seen Moria, but it has become a dark and dreadful place. *They go toward the light beyond the northern archway and find a dimly lit square chamber. In it is a slab of stone that reads, "Balin Son of Fundin, Lord of Moria" (2.4.201). *Balin is dead.